My Response to Tim Minear's Season 9 Interview - PART 6
"The firefighter auction" - PART 3
Eddie wasn’t discovering that Chris was still at home until the end of act one, and I’m like, “We can’t do that. I think we have to reveal this right up front. I think it needs to be the end of the teaser,” which I think it is, because we’ve been off the air. It was a bit; it was kind of a mid-season finale, if I’m not mistaken. Everyone’s going to expect that we’re going to come back, and we’re going to be doing the Chris is missing episode, just like the Harry is missing episode, or the Maddie is missing episode, and I never wanted to do that.
So either they’re going to be really disappointed that, like, wah, wah, just kidding, he wasn’t really abducted. I think they’ll forgive it more if that card is turned over earlier. I don’t remember what I made the first act break, but as you can tell, I move things around in post all the time. It’s also been a challenge to find ways to incorporate May’s character, right? I wanted them both to be regulars, which they are. She’s wonderful, and she’s been around since the very beginning, and obviously, it’s easier to kind of get Harry into the action because I made him join the 118, which is the way to keep Athena having emotional stakes tied to the firehouse now that Bobby is no longer there. It was actually Corinne’s idea for May to pursue nursing.
She called me, and she’s like, “Here’s what I’m thinking.” She was very nervous. “What if she wanted to be a nurse and she could help people. It kind of goes back to the tsunami episode where she had to hold that woman’s neck.” I don’t know what she was expecting, but like, “I think that’s a great idea.” She’s like, “Really?” I’m like, “Yeah.” So we decided to go down that road, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of screen time on that until I kind of found a place to make a story about, what does May want to do in her future?
I’ve been trying to include Ravi more. I mean, because Eddie was busy with his Day of the Dead, Buck needed someone to have his séance scene with. I’m like, it should be Ravi, and for whatever reason, I’m like, “I think he has to show up dressed as Raggedy Andy.” Everyone in the room was just like, “What?” I’m like, “It’s just this image in my head of Buck opening the door, and there’s Ravi dressed as Raggedy Andy.” Anirudh did not want to do it.
Alayna, the costume designer, was like, “No, no, people are going to love this. It’s great.” She kind of talked him into it, and of course, you should do it, because it’s great. So I had these two characters that kind of get the short end of the stick, right? My feeling was like, I think they’d be a cute couple, and this would be a way to kind of fuel inject both of those characters by putting them together. So, that was the thinking there.
So we continue, because this is still part of that infamous answer about Ravi and May. 😂
And here, well, we're still talking about the fact that... this is all still tied to the scene where Chris disappears. It's still connected to the Abigail storyline, so even here he keeps explaining how this episode was probably very convoluted and how he ended up simplifying it and cleaning it up a bit.
And on that point, I actually agree with him, because when he explains how it was originally supposed to play out, it really would have been confusing. So then he explains how he fixed it.
Moving on, he finally gets to the question the interviewer had asked him what feels like an hour earlier.
So he finally gets to May and Ravi.
And he tells us that, obviously, the issue was: in the middle of all this chaos, how do I introduce May's character?
And he says that nowadays it's easier to have her interact with everyone than it was in the past because Harry is now part of the 118.
That's actually pretty interesting, because he also explains why Harry is now part of the 118. Apparently, it was created specifically so Athena could continue having a connection to the 118 without Bobby.
Otherwise, in some ways, it would have become more distant.
Sure, she knows Hen, who was her best friend, Chimney, and the others, but having her son working there creates a stronger connection.
It's a bit like when Bobby was there.
So that's apparently the real reason Harry became a firefighter, and honestly, I like that explanation.
But once again, he keeps talking about other topics because he still hasn't gotten to Ravi.
Even the fact that May ultimately pursues nursing happened because Corinne suggested it.
Corinne, I adore you. You know I love you. ❤️
At the end of the day, she's an actress, and as actors should, they suggest things that feel right for their characters.
But then it's up to you—the writers—to make it make sense.
Because you're the ones who had her spend a year at Dispatch after taking a gap year.
And then she suddenly decides to change direction.
Go back and watch Season 5 if I'm remembering correctly.
There's that conversation with Athena where it becomes clear that May chose law because Athena had studied law before becoming a police officer and never finished her degree.
A girl who already had this desire to help people from the beginning, and who had already started realizing that during her time at Dispatch...
She doesn't throw away four years of college.
If I spent four years studying something and then went to my parents and said, "You know what? I never actually wanted to do this. I want to do something completely different," my parents would hang me from the nearest hook.
If this was something she felt from the beginning, then have her do one year of college and then say, "Mom, I'm trying, but I don't think law is for me."
Athena would probably tell her to do whatever she wants.
Maybe they didn't show that because, in my opinion, May is paying for college herself.
Athena would probably say, "You can waste as many years as you want."
But generally speaking, I find it to be wasted time.
The idea that a girl studies a subject for four years and then, after five minutes working with Gabby, suddenly realizes she doesn't like it and decides to go back to her original dream...
Considering how much Tim talks about how complicated timing was this season and how careful they had to be in telling stories properly...
This was handled terribly.
Corinne gave a good idea because she knows her character.
But it's the writers' fault that from Season 5 until now they completely forgot about May.
They kept having her study and pop up randomly every now and then without ever exploring the possibility that she might reach this realization earlier or through a different path.
So yes, Corinne was absolutely right to make that suggestion.
Because, in my opinion, she was drawing heavily from the tsunami episode that eventually led May to Dispatch.
Even back then, we understood that there was a direction there.
A path Ryan Murphy had already laid out.
Because Ryan Murphy did an exceptional job with May Grant.
Tim Minear, meanwhile, never really considered her.
And then he tried to "fix" the character this season in a very clumsy way simply because Corinne reminded him what May's journey had always been.
Maybe it should have been done earlier.
So yes, it was nice that they brought May back closer to her roots.
But it was done clumsily, in my opinion.
Then he says that at some point they wanted to include Ravi more because they felt this season...
And honestly, this part sounded a little stupid to me.
For example, he says that one way they included Ravi more was in the Día de los Muertos episode.
Buck was dealing with his issues, and they needed someone for the séance scene.
So you're basically telling us Ravi is a filler character.
Whenever you need to fill a hole, you call Ravi.
I'm sorry, but that's exactly what that sounds like.
And then eventually—finally—we get there.
Guys, I got absolutely crucified.
The day after the episode aired where May and Ravi slept together.
I got destroyed when I said:
"I think this couple was thrown together because it feels like he doesn't know where to put Ravi, he doesn't know where to put May, so he puts them together and says problem solved."
Like, "I've got two characters left over. I don't know what the hell to do with either of them, so I put them together."
I got crucified for saying that.
And then in this interview, he basically says the exact same thing.
He says he had these two characters and didn't really know what to do with them.
Because he makes it very clear that if Corinne hadn't reminded him who May was and what her journey had been, he probably would have kept using her however he felt like.
At the same time, he says that he wanted Ravi to have a bigger presence this season.
And his idea of giving Ravi more presence was putting him in the séance scene with Buck so he'd have something to do.
With those two answers, Tim is basically telling us that he doesn't care about Ravi or May.
Because on one side, he needs the actress to remind him how to write her character.
And on the other side, he has a character who's been around since Season 4 and is treated like a gap-filler.
And then at some point he says, "I don't know what else to do with them."
So he puts them together.
And somehow that's supposed to be the solution.
Which is exactly what I said.
You didn't know what to do with them.
You threw them together hoping to create some hype.
Hoping something would come out of it.
Not because you genuinely wanted to build something meaningful between them.
But because you didn't know how else to make them stand out.
The only way was to create something that would make people say, "Aww, look, they're cute."
Basically, you had to rely on fanservice.
If you like it, good for you.
I genuinely don't understand it.
Because if I were actually a fan of this pairing—as many people are—and if I had written fanfiction about them, as many people have because I've seen it on AO3, those people created storylines.
They didn't just throw them together randomly the way he did.
So I hope those people are just as angry as I am.
I genuinely hope this becomes a couple that eventually gains some substance.
Even if I still don't like it, at least it would have a reason to exist.
Because right now it started badly, and it's hard to fix something after such a bad start.
Otherwise, I hope they don't have a future.
Because I want to see Ravi.
I want to see their evolution.
I don't want to see them become relevant because they're pretending to be together.
Because objectively it feels like a couple he doesn't care about.
There isn't a single truly deep or beautiful scene between them.
People say, "Look how sweet Ravi is. Look how supportive he is."
Yeah, because you see him sitting next to her in the hospital.
Or putting an arm around her shoulders.
But narratively speaking, that's not what I consider two people supporting each other or building something together.
Those are things that work in a show like Violetta or Il Mondo di Patty.
Honestly, I find more depth, more chemistry, and more emotional development in Zed and Addison from Zombies.
And that's a movie series aimed at a younger audience.
Ravi and May shouldn't feel like a Disney Channel couple.
That's what I'm trying to say.
You expect a certain tone from Disney Channel.
You even wish there were more because you're older.
I ship Zed and Addison too. I'd love more kisses and more scenes.
But I understand the target audience doesn't allow for that.
In 9-1-1, though, finding a couple that feels equivalent to a Disney Channel pairing?
They built more emotional development for Zed and Addison than they did here.
And that's not normal considering the target audiences are supposed to be completely different.
Then you tell me there wasn't enough time.
Because we've understood that this is Tim's constant excuse throughout the interview:
There was never enough runtime.
Never enough minutes to properly develop certain storylines.
So many things had to be compressed.
And when I say "don't do them," I mean the expression we use in Italy:
Either do something properly or don't do it at all.
And he chose to do it badly.
You either take the time and find room for it, even if that means giving them small scenes over time.
Maybe you slowly build them into Season 10.
Maybe that's when the relationship starts.
Because apparently the hype of Harry walking in and catching them together was too good to pass up.
At this point, things are done because they create hype, not because they make sense or because they're well written.
Build the relationship gradually.
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